Hiding Secrets
by Spiritslayer
Summary: SUSPENDED! AU. Between new teachers, transfer students and essays, what're five best friends attending Junon Academy supposed to do when one of them is discovered with something none of them should have...? New friendships will be made, old ones tested.
1. Secrets Among Friends?

_This just spawned from a random thought I had while typing up a chapter of The Galian. I got thinking 'what if everyone else knew Lucrecia personally?' This fanfic is woven rather loosely around that thought, with a plot not directly involving the scientist. It's also my first shot at an AU fanfic (Alternate Universe), so be nice. Course, I don't think I need to say it... -Spiritslayer_

* * *

"Strife, are you paying attention?"

Silence met the teacher's ears, and the class started laughing quietly amongst themselves. Only Cloud Strife, the one being addressed, wasn't paying attention.

The teacher inhaled sharply and let it out in one large breath. He looked around and picked up a green orb, fingers clasped around it. He began tossing it into the air and catching it, eyes narrowed and on Cloud.

One of the students realized what the teacher intended to do and reached out to shake his shoulder.

"Lockheart, that won't be necessary," the teacher snapped. "He wants to sleep in my class, I'll let him sleep in my class." He seized the orb and tapped into its powers, casting Sleepel on Cloud.

If Cloud had been awake before, he was now asleep. The teacher gave a triumphant 'Hmph!' and put the materia away. "If anyone, and I mean _anyone_," he stressed, eyes on Tifa Lockheart, Aerith Gainsborough, Zack Fair and Yuffie Kisaragi, "tries waking him up, it'll be detention for disrupting class. He's not to be awoken until class is over, understood?"

"Yes, Professor Hojo," the four grumbled.

"Good." Hojo turned his attention back to his lecture notes. "Now, where was I? Ugh, this is why I hate slackers. They ruin a class just like that."

A hand rose from the back.

A curt sneer rose to the professor's face. "What is it now?"

"Professor, you were talking about the development of materia before Strife ruined the class."

"Ah yes. Thank you. Now then..." Professor Hojo focused on his lecture again and found where he had left off. He began speaking again, this time referring to his lecture.

Tifa felt someone tap her on the back. "Don't you think the professor's more edgy lately?" she heard a soft whisper say behind her.

Tifa nodded, not wanting to turn around and catch his attention. "After class, okay?" she whispered back to Aerith.

An hour later, Hojo dismissed them from class, lingering to observe the four friends hovering over their sleeping fifth. "Leave him be," Hojo snapped. "If he hasn't woken yet, his spirit's remarkably low. As much as I hate admitting it, my skill with materia isn't the best."

"But professor, if we leave him here he can't study and catch up on--"

"Well, he shouldn't have fallen asleep in the first place then, now should he?!" he retorted, going back to his desk. He withdrew a different materia and tossed it across the room to Aerith. "You've got an affinity for harnessing materia's fullest potential. Use that Heal materia and wake him up. I can't be wasting time with someone who doesn't care about class enough to stay alert." He walked out of the room, saying "Put it on my desk when you finish with it, Gainsborough. None of you are licensed to use materia outside of this room, let alone own it, and if I find it missing..."

"I understand, professor." She closed her eyes and tapped into the materia's hidden powers, blasting Cloud with an Esuna spell. "Wakey wakey, sleepyhead!" she said cheerfully, walking to the front of the class to return the materia.

He stirred and sat up. "Hey, we on break?" he asked, stifling a yawn.

Zack shook his head. "You wish. Class is over."

"What?! Oh dammit, I zoned out again?!" He facepalmed. "I can't believe it! It's always during Professor Hojo's lectures!"

Yuffie nodded. "I've noticed that too. Then again, he's never really liked any of us, so it does kill our attention span."

"Yeah, but we need to pass his course to be licensed to own and use materia whenever and wherever we want." Tifa sighed. "You'd think he'd make the course a little more interesting, then. I don't think he's ever had someone retake this class."

"Well, there's always a first time for everything," Aerith chirped brightly. She walked back to her friends and gave Cloud a playful slap upside the head. "You might be that first guy at this rate."

"Oh, come on. It's not my fault his class is..."

"Boring?" all four said simultaneously.

"Yes, exactly."

Zack chuckled. "Come on. I'm just glad this is the last course of the day; I need to kick back and take it easy." He walked to the door, turning to wait for his friends.

Each of them were busy putting their stuff away, talking amongst themselves. Or rather, the girls were talking amongst themselves; Cloud was packing up silently. In time, they were all ready to go and they joined Zack at the door.

"So, who else thinks Professor Hojo's been edgy lately?" Aerith asked.

They all raised their hands, eliciting a giggle from Aerith. "Easy enough. Anyone know why?"

Zack turned his head to face her. "Do you know the answer to this?"

"Maybe," she replied, grinning.

"I heard he was shot down by another one of the teachers. He asked her out to dinner and she just denied him the pleasure," Yuffie said. "He's been pissy since."

"Bingo!" Aerith exclaimed. "Now, can anyone guess who he asked?"

"That's a no-brainer," Cloud sighed. "Professor Crescent. She's not the only female professor here, but she's certainly the prettiest. Of course a sleaze like him would go for her."

"Right again!" Aerith giggled. "Wait, you just called Professor Hojo a 'sleaze'? Cloud! Don't the words 'respect your elders' mean anything to you?!"

"Yeah, well, he can take those words and shove them where the sun don't shine for all I care. The only reason people take his class is so they can get their materia license, that's it. He teaches other classes too, but his ineptitude with materia means his other classes suck."

"Yuffie, what other classes does he teach?" Tifa asked. "It's the first I heard of it."

"Why d'you just assume I know the answer?" Yuffie replied wearily.

"You've got your nose in most of the private matters here in the school, if not all of them. You'll definitely know public knowledge stuff like that," Tifa said matter-of-factly.

"True. All right, I'll tell you." Yuffie pulled out the small notebook she carried with her. "Let's see... he also teaches Black Magic And Its Uses, White Magic And Its Uses, Green Magic And Its Uses... He also offers advanced courses on summon materia, support materia and independent materia. The toughest one of those six to get into is the summon materia course, because you require your own summon materia to use. Other than that, he provides materia for the courses. Also, he requires you to have a materia license in order to take any of those classes." She put the notebook away. "How's that for information?"

"Nice, but..." Zack scratched his head. "Green magic?"

"You know, support spells like Barrier, MBarrier, Haste? Stuff like that."

"Oh, I get it. Yeah, those don't really count as white magic, but they're definitely not black magic either." Zack gave Yuffie a smile. "Not bad. There's a reason you're our informant."

She beamed at the compliment. "Thanks, Zack. I don't really study much, since I just soak up all this stuff in the classroom, so I need something else to do. I figure gathering information on just about anything passes time, and it's proven useful before too!"

"So that explains your average grades," he replied, snickering. "You really don't study?"

"Nope. I... hey, wait! You called my grades average!" she snapped hotly.

All but Cloud laughed as she and Zack began trading comebacks with one another. Tifa eventually noticed he wasn't really paying attention and rested her hand on his shoulder. "Hey, everything okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm just kind of..."

"Out of it?" she offered.

He nodded. "Yeah. I didn't get enough sleep last night. Was busy practicing my sword technique once I had finished my homework and studying."

"Cloud..." she clicked her tongue. "You don't need to practice your fighting techniques on campus, you know. It's not like we'll be attacked here or anything."

"It's not like I had much of a choice. Rufus and his gang wanted to see how much better I've gotten."

The other three were listening to the two of them now. Zack had won his little contest with Yuffie, but neither one was showing much concern over it. "Rufus?" Aerith asked. "Wasn't he suspended?"

Cloud shook his head. "He's always been Professor Hojo's favorite, and the professor decided to pull some strings to keep his 'star student' from suspension. I'm amazed old man Bugenhagen let Rufus stay."

"Wait, how'd you know that?" Yuffie asked, her notebook out again. She was flipping through the pages furiously. "I got nothing on that!"

Cloud nodded grimly. "Rufus told me last night. Only he, his gang, Professor Hojo and old man Bugenhagen know about it, and none of them are too keen on spreading the word. Of course, the rumor's gotten out anyway that Rufus was 'suspended'."

"His gang..." Zack furrowed his brow. "Aren't those his friends? Reno, Rude, Tseng and Elena?"

Cloud nodded. "On their own, they're nothing special, but all of them together are difficult, if not impossible, to beat. I guess they manage to cover the weaknesses of the others so that none of them have a weakness in their little group."

They had since left the school and were walking to their dorms. A cool wind blew over them, easing the heat from the late afternoon sun.

"Well, I feel much better now that I'm out of that stuffy building!" Yuffie exclaimed, stretching her arms out. "Feels so nice out here!" Her attention was diverted by someone waving to her. "Uh oh. My old man's here, so that must mean there's something going on back home. Well, I was gonna chill in the dorms tonight, but I guess not." She started running toward her father, waving a hand at her friends as she went. "See you guys tomorrow!" she called out.

They waved back at her, then continued on their way to the dorms. "Hm... but you know, without Yuffie here, the life of the group's pretty much gone," Zack said thoughtfully. "Well, it's good that she holds family that close to her heart."

Aerith nodded. "That's because she has what we don't."

The others agreed, thinking of how their parents had died. "But Aerith, don't you have your mother?" Tifa asked.

"I do, but you guys all know she's not my real mom. She cared for me when I lost my real mom, and I love her dearly for it. But..."

They walked to a large tree near the dorms and sat down under it. For as long as they had been friends, they had sat under this tree from the time classes let out to lights out. Unless they needed the library for something or needed to be somewhere else, they braved all manner of weather to sit under the tree. Everyone around campus knew they loved the tree and had since declared it property of the group of five.

"It never fails," Aerith said, beginning to climb up the tree to her favorite branch. "When Yuffie's not here, it just feel weird sitting under this tree." She reached her branch and began checking the tree for any problems. Of the five of them, Aerith was most devoted to keeping it in check.

"What do you mean, 'under it'? Aerith, you sit _in _it," Zack chuckled. "But yeah, it does feel weird without her. I mean, of all of us, she's the only one that's gone most often. She's usually here four days a week, but the rest of the time she's running around campus spying on people, or she's with her family."

"Raise your hand if you love Yuffie with all your heart!" Aerith exclaimed, her hand shooting up. Tifa's followed, and Cloud and Zack followed suit. "That settles it," she said happily. "Even when she's gone, we love her and miss her." She resumed checking the tree for anything wrong.

They listened to the sounds of the campus as they began studying and doing homework. A faint 'wark!' caught their attention, but only one of them spoke up on the matter. "Sounds like the chocobo races are taking place right now," Cloud said. "If only we didn't need a materia license to place bets or take part in it..."

"Oh Cloud... we all know why that is. Some of the prizes, regardless of participation or bets, are materia. Can't have those unlicensed using it, now can we?" Aerith said, almost done checking the tree. She was the only one who hadn't started on her homework and studying. "Besides, of all of us, you're the only one who knows how to race a chocobo." She finished checking the tree over and turned to her books, but her attention was caught by something glinting in the sunlight. "Hey, what's this?" she asked, moving to check it out.

"What's what?" Zack asked, looking up.

"Something's here, but I don't know what it is. The sun reflected off it." She found the source of the glint and peeked at it. "No good. It's stuck in the tree. Maybe this branch grew around it or something? But not entirely, in any case..."

Cloud stood and climbed up the tree to see what she was looking at. "Where?"

She pointed to where the branch met the trunk of the tree. "Right there."

He carefully reached into his pocket and pulled out a small knife he kept on him. He started digging into the tree, much to the shock of everyone.

"You keep a knife on you?!" Zack exclaimed.

"Cloud, what're you doing?! You could get hurt!" Tifa cried out.

"Cloud Strife, stop it! You're hurting the tree!" Aerith hissed.

He ignored all three of them and managed to pry the object from the tree. It fell to the ground with a faint 'thump'. He put the knife away and climbed down to check it out. "What was it? It was small, whatever it was."

Zack was first to reach the spot where it landed. "Oh, no way..." he muttered. "Aerith, guess what you found?"

"What? What'd I find?" she asked, not wishing to climb down from the tree and look.

Zack picked up the small orb and held it up. In the sunlight, it glimmered red. "You found a summon materia, I think."

"I what?!" she exclaimed, jumping from the branch and landing carefully, eyes on the orb in Zack's hand. It was indeed a red sphere that glinted as any other materia would glint in the sunlight. "But... that can't be! Materia doesn't originate in a tree!"

"Well then, _someone_ put it there while you were tending the branch months ago. Remember? Lightning struck it, splitting your branch and almost knocking it clean off?"

She nodded. "I remember. But who put it there? No one else really comes near the tree, just us five!"

Zack shrugged. "I know I didn't."

"Me either," Cloud said.

Tifa looked at it, then at each of her friends. "I didn't put it there. I wouldn't be caught _dead_ with materia while I don't have my license!"

Aerith frowned. "So if not us, then who...?"

A sudden realization dawned on them. "Yuffie," they all whispered.

* * *

_What to do when one of your friends is hiding something you're not supposed to have...? Well, let me know what you thought of it! There'll be more and more familiar faces as the story goes, and I just might do something really clever later. That is, of course, dependant on how you, the readers, accept this story._

_Unlike The Galian, I don't have the next chapter up for this, so it might be a little while before I post the next chapter. Review and let me know what you thought!- Spiritslayer_


	2. Confronted!

_I'm trying something new here. As opposed to writing chapters ahead of time, I figure write 'em up as I go, see what happens and how much I keep readers in suspense. So far, I think it's working. Let me know how I'm doing with this one so far. -Spiritslayer_

* * *

The next morning Tifa, Zack, Cloud and Aerith all gathered under their tree, waiting for Yuffie to show up. "At what point should we ask her about that materia?" Cloud asked.

Aerith frowned. "I think we should bring it up immediately. The longer we wait, the higher our chance of being found out by anyone. Besides, why was she hiding it from us in the first place?"

Zack nodded in agreement. "We should mention it as soon as she arrives. I'll handle the conversation leading up to it."

The other three gave their approval, eyes on Yuffie as she ran up to her friends. "Hey guys!" she called, waving vigorously at them as she ran to them.

Zack forced a rather convincing smile. "Hey Yuffie. How was your night?"

She made a face. "You kidding me? My old man wouldn't stop badgering me about studying. I eventually locked my door and fell asleep." She smiled. "But how was your night, guys?" She joined them as they started off.

"Oh, fairly eventful." Zack fell back so he was walking next to Yuffie. Cloud, Tifa and Aerith were walking a little ways ahead of them. "But we'll get to that in a moment. Yuffie, we're all best friends here, right?"

"Yeah."

"No big secrets, right? Nothing that could get any of us in trouble?"

She shifted uneasily. "Nope," she said unconvincingly. "Nothing."

He smiled at her in a way that she knew she was about to be proven wrong. "Good. I mean, it'd be a shame if we were to, say, find something that said otherwise."

"Y-yeah." She laughed nervously. "That'd be a shame."

The other three turned and faced them both, stopping them. "It really would," Aerith said.

"Oh, Yuffie, I have another question." Zack reached into his pocket but didn't pull out the materia hidden inside. "Suppose we did find something. What do you think it would be?"

"Um..." She shifted again. "I have something to check on really quick..."

"Hm? Yuffie, hold on. This is just getting good," he finished, pulling out the summon materia and showing it to her. "This wouldn't happen to be it, would it?"

Her eyes widened drastically, her jaw dropped. "W-w-what...? How'd you find my-- I mean..."

Zack dropped his smile and glared at her. "Yuffie, how could you put us at risk like that?!" he hissed, grabbing her wrist and bringing her to the tree, the other three following closely.

"I... who found it?" she asked timidly.

"That'd be me," Aerith said, her usually cheery expression gone with no trace. "I don't know how I could've missed it for months on end, but I found it yesterday. Cloud dug it out."

"Yuffie..." Tifa shook her head. "You're lucky we figured it out before anyone else did. You really are. Let's put aside the fact that we're not licensed to own materia really quick and get to the point of how you came into possession of it in the first place!"

"Um..." She sighed. "Alright, I'll confess it. That summon materia's mine. My old man's materia split into two months ago. He kept the mastered materia for himself and gave me the new one. I told him up and down that I couldn't keep it, but he said that I was good at hiding things. So, for the longest time, I hid it on my person. Then the day came that Aerith's branch was hit by lightning. When she mended it, I realized that's where I could hide it until I was licensed, when I'd go back for it. I didn't want to drop it too far down, but it couldn't be so... obvious that anyone could find it just like that. So I hid it under a piece of bark and make a mark to remind myself where I had to break the bark away as the branch mended. I guess Aerith broke the bark climbing the tree." She looked down. "I'm sorry, guys. I didn't want to worry you about it, but my old man wouldn't let me leave it at home, either. I was stuck."

"But still... why our tree? If anyone else had found it, we'd all be in trouble, Yuffie!" Tifa exclaimed quietly. "As I said earlier, you're very lucky we found it before anyone else could've!"

"Hey, I'm sorry! It just seemed like the safest place to hide it! I was stumped at the time!"

"Just saying 'sorry' isn't going to cut it this time," Cloud stated. "You've got some serious making up to do with all of us. I never thought you'd do that behind our backs! Did it ever occur to you to tell us the very same day you got it?!"

"I... no." Her face fell. "I thought you'd go off on me for it..."

"No, we'd have gone off on your old man!" Zack responded quietly as a curious group walked past them, attention on them. Aerith faced them and gave them a cheery smile, wishing them a good morning. "We would've had no issues with it if you told us from the start, but you had to hide it from us?! Are we really that untrustworthy?!"

She wasn't able to say anything, not because they were talking all at once, but because she was unsure of what to say without putting her in more hell.

"Cloud's right," Aerith said, turning her attention back to the troublemaker. "I don't know how you can get us to forgive you, but that's gravely serious, Yuffie! You know full well it's against the law to hold materia if you don't have a license!"

"I know, but my old man wouldn't listen to me!"

Tifa reached a hand out to Zack. "I have an idea. If she wants _my _forgiveness, she can do it rather easily." Zack handed Tifa the materia. "How about this? Since it's yours, _you _hold onto it. Zack's been keeping it hidden from anyone else since we found it, and if he was found out, he wouldn't be here right now! _You _hold onto it, _you _face the penalties of you're found with it! Until you get your license, don't even _think_ of passing it off to us to stay out of trouble!"

Cloud agreed with Tifa's idea. "I think it's a good idea. Hold onto it, and I, at least, will forgive this rather large-scale problem."

Aerith shook her head. "I won't forgive you so easily, you know." She looked at Zack. "He put himself on the line for you. You want to know what happened last night?"

Yuffie could only guess. "Search?" she asked timidly.

Zack nodded grimly. "That's right. They searched the dorms last night for anyone holding materia or anything else that was illegal or against campus rules." He looked at Cloud. "How many times did the materia change through my hands last night without them realizing it? Five or six, right?"

"No, more like eight or nine. You almost got caught at one point, remember? You said something had bitten you, and that's why your hand had jerked like that."

Yuffie was starting to understand the gravity of the situation.

"No offense to the rest of you, but Zack means so much to me," Aerith said, her face turning pink at the comment. "If he was caught last night with that, we probably wouldn't see him ever again. You realize this, right?"

Zack was almost glaring at Yuffie. "I can't begin to tell you how _nerve-wracking_ that was last night. I was so worried they'd spot it in my hand. No, I'm not forgiving you for a long time. It's as Cloud said. If you had told us from the start, this wouldn't be as big a deal! We would've helped you hide it in the tree, I'm sure, and Aerith would've been more careful climbing up!"

Yuffie had never felt so small in her life. She looked around slowly, making sure someone with a license hadn't cast Mini on her, then gulped. "I-I'm sorry, guys. I didn't think it'd be that big a deal if I hid it up there."

Tifa grasped Yuffie's hand roughly and pulled it out. She dropped the materia into Yuffie's palm. "From now on, it's _your _problem. None of us should have to face consequences for your stupidity!" She looked at Zack, then Cloud and Aerith. Her eyes wandered back to Yuffie with time, and she sighed. "Let's go. We might make the first class if we hurry."

They nodded and set off, Yuffie lingering long enough to hide the materia as best she could. She decided her pocket would have to do for now and hoped nothing happened. They set off in silence and arrived at their first class in silence.

Their fellow classmates were looking at them in concern. "You think something happened to them overnight?" one whispered.

"Probably. This is the quietest they've ever been coming into class."

They ignored the murmurs and took their seats, pulling out their books and notes. Yuffie glanced at each of her friends slowly only to be met with a glare and watch them look away. _They must hate me so much right now,_ she thought bitterly, picking up her pen and twirling it in her fingers. _And... they deserve to. I almost told them the day I received it, but... What kept me from telling them again...?_

The teacher walked in, a bright smile on her face. "Good morning, everyone!" she exclaimed brightly.

The whole class resounded with "Good morning, Professor Crescent!", although Yuffie, Cloud, Zack and Tifa practically mumbled it. Only Aerith was willing to put the internal squabble aside long enough to be her usual, cheerful self.

Lucrecia Crescent noticed that four of her students weren't as energetic this morning as they usually were. She opened her mouth to say something, but decided against it and instead settled for her trademark bright smile. "I have some announcements to make before we begin," she began, walking to the front of her desk and leaning against it, arms crossed. The air about her was still pleasant. "It's my pleasure to inform you that we have someone transferring to this school. He formerly attended Nibelheim University, and was recommended here to further his education."

"Another Nibelheim punk," someone muttered from the back.

Lucrecia looked apalled. "Oh, come now! Was that really called for?" She shook her head. "Anyway, please help me in welcoming your new classmate, Se--" She looked to the door as it was practically thrown open. A tall, lean man walked in quickly, a face set with apparent disappointment.

Yuffie gulped. Had someone else found out she had materia and told the superintendent, the man now talking hushedly to Lucrecia? She looked to her friends and saw that none of them were looking at her. She took this to mean that none of them had said anything. However mad they were at her for putting them all at risk, Zack especially, she knew that none of them would sell her out like that for revenge.

Lucrecia gave a small nod and turned to face the class again. "Mr. Tuesti has just informed me that one of you has materia in your possession." Her expression was grave as her eyes swept over the five friends and observed the rest of the class. "He wants you to follow him to his office now, and yes, he knows who it is."

"This is a grave matter," Reeve Tuesti began, his eyes ablaze. "You should know better, and I will say it will do you some good to come forward right now. If you don't, then I'll just have to force you to accompany me."

Yuffie's heart plummeted. She wasn't sure what to do. Who had told him that she had materia? And further, who else outside her four friends knew about it? She slid her legs backward, ready to stand and face the music.

A sudden burst of anger erupted from the far corner of the room. "Dammit, Reno!" she heard someone shout. "You said you wouldn't snitch on me!"

Lucrecia noticed Yuffie's legs move all the same and raised an eyebrow. Yuffie felt the eyes and moved her legs under her chair, hoping that alleviated the suspicion. It wasn't the smoothest move, but she was able to relax slightly; it wasn't her. Yet.

Reeve nodded to the one who had shouted. "Sil Conaria, you have been accused of possessing Time materia. Give it here, and then follow me."

Sil grumbled as he stood up and walked forward, casting vengeful glares at Reno, who was simply smirking back at him. He plunged his hand into his bag and fished around for a moment, pulling out the aforementioned materia. He held it out to Reeve, who took it quickly and looked at the rest of the class.

"It pains me to see one of your classmates be expelled from Junon Academy for one small orb, but trust me when I say it isn't worth it. Believe me, I saw a lot of people when I was still attending..." To Yuffie, his voice droned on and on. She had heard this story a few times now, and before she had been completely worry-free. But now that she had one such 'small orb' on her person, she was suddenly a lot more nervous about it, although she didn't express it. She heard Reeve wind down his little speech about the perils of possessing materia without a license and gave a small gulp, one she hoped no one else had seen.

Unbeknownst to her, her favorite person outside her group of friends had seen Yuffie's actions through the exchange. Professor Lucrecia Crescent had her eyes fixed on Yuffie, slowly understanding what was going on. She looked over at Reeve as he was saying his farewells to her and leading Sil out of the room. He closed the door behind him.

"Well," she said quietly. "That's not the way we want to start our mornings, is it? But I'm just glad to know that none of you have materia on you right now." Her eyes flicked to Yuffie, whose guilt seemed to weigh her down immensely. "Anyway, where was I? Oh yes! Introducing our new transfer student! I'd like you to meet Sephiroth, formerly of Nibelheim Academy. Sephiroth?"

A man none of them had ever seen before walked into the room, eyes sweeping the classroom. He spotted Cloud, Zack, Aerith, Tifa and Yuffie and gave a small smile. He observed the rest of the class and stood next to Lucrecia, still looking around at his new classmates.

"Sephiroth, feel free to take a seat anywhere," Lucrecia said brightly. "It'll be a pleasure having you in this class."

He nodded, walking past Zack and passing between Cloud and Tifa. He came to stop at the seat to the right of Yuffie's seat and sat down, eyes still searching the room. He quietly procured his books and blank paper and set them on top of his desk. He gave a small 'hm' and leaned back slightly, relaxing.

"Well," Lucrecia said, breaking what had seemed to be an uncomfortable silence, "Let's begin, shall we?" She walked behind her desk. "First, start by pulling out your homework assignments from last week. Sephiroth, obviously you're exempt from--"

"What was the assignment?" someone interrupted from the area Sil had vacated.

Lucrecia sighed, her eyes closing. "If you don't remember, you didn't do it. I'll want to talk to those of you who didn't do it after class. And while I'm at it," she added, her eyes flicking to Yuffie again. "Miss Kisaragi, Mr. Strife, Miss Lockheart, Miss Gainsborough and Mr. Fair. I want to see the five of you after class as well."

Yuffie fought the urge to gulp again. She felt eyes seemingly burning into the side of her head from her immediate right and tried ignoring it. "Yes professor," all five said. Yuffie could've almost sworn her voice had cracked with just those two words, but decided not to dwell on it.

Sephiroth was looking at Yuffie amusedly. He began writing on a piece of paper and took a moment to silently crack his neck, his long silver hair shifting this way and that as he did. He resumed writing, a small smirk on his face as he did.

The lesson went by without a hitch, although Yuffie did cause a disturbance with just a half hour to the end of class. She heard an almost muted 'pst' from her right and glanced at the new student.

Sephiroth was holding a piece of paper out to her, a smirk on his face. "Miss Kisaragi," he mused almost silently. "For you."

She took it carefully and quietly, trying to keep from diverting her attention. Had the new student taken some sort of interest in _her_? She looked at him almost excitedly, a small smile on her face. She went to the paper and read it.

_I know you have materia on you, and I know you're not licensed. A real risk taker, aren't you?_

She leapt out of her seat and staggered backwards, eyes on him. His own eyes seemed to dance in merriment at her reaction.

"Miss Kisaragi, is something the matter?" Lucrecia asked, pausing. Everyone turned to face her. The paper, thankfully, had fallen to the floor in her movements, out of sight of everyone who was looking at her.

"Just a spider, professor. It startled me."

"That bad?" she pressed.

Yuffie thought for a moment. "I... hate spiders. A lot."

Lucrecia seemed on the verge of questioning further, but settled for the answer. "Alright then. Please take your seat again and try to put up with it."

"Yes professor." She sat down shakily, eyes trained on the corner of the desk where she imagined her 'spider' would've been.

At the end of the lesson, everyone stood and filed out one by one. Yuffie lingered, as did her four friends and Sephiroth. She looked at Sephiroth, wondering how on Gaia's green earth he knew.

"You five, I'm ready to speak to you now." Lucrecia indicated the front of the room. "Sephiroth, you don't have to--"

"I know I don't have to, but I want to. Need to make friends somewhere, don't I?" he asked, his cool voice sending chills down Yuffie's spine.

"But..." Lucrecia sighed. "Oh, never mind. Could you wait for your new friends outside, then?"

He nodded wordlessly, striding outside and closing the door behind him.

"So," she began. "You five doing okay? You seemed... Well, I'll put it this way. It seems like you five had a fight or something earlier. And Miss Kisaragi, when Mr. Tuesti was in, you seemed... jumpy."

She hung her head. Had the professor figured it out? She decided it was time to come clean. "The thing is... I..." She sensed eyes on her from all her friends and was pretty sure they were looking at her as though she were insane. She sighed and blurted it out. "I have materia on me, professor."

Lucrecia frowned. "Is that right?"

Yuffie nodded, reaching into her pocket and pulling it out for her to see. "This is it."

Lucrecia studied the orb slowly and gave a short nod. "I see. That'd explain why you were about to stand when Mr. Tuesti was here for Sil."

Yuffie hung her head. "I suppose you'll be telling Mr. Tuesti, then?"

Lucrecia sighed slowly, eyes closed. "Yuffie, you know full well the consequences of having that on you. Even more so than having it kept in your dorm, no less. You share a dorm with Tifa and Aerith, don't you?"

Yuffie's heart sank. "Yes professor."

She gave a small smile. "Call me Lucrecia. I only require 'professor' while class is in session. Besides, you five are some of my favorite students. I can make exceptions to that rule." The smile left her face. "But not to the rule regarding materia. Forget the rule on campus; it's a law. If that materia's found in your dorm, you know what'd that do to your two friends, right?"

"I know..." she mumbled.

Lucrecia rested a hand on Yuffie's shoulder. "I appreciate you telling me straight up like that. Not many people are willing to do that, you know. It takes guts." She took the incriminating orb from Yuffie's hand and examined it.

"Are you going to tell Mr. Tuesti?" Yuffie asked, fearing the answer.

"...No." Lucrecia looked up at Yuffie. "I'll hold on to this for you until you get your license, but on one condition."

"Anything," Yuffie blurted out, a tsunami of relief washing over not just her, but her friends too.

"This is still serious, Yuffie. I'll only take this into my possession and not tell anyone else about it if you make up with your friends by the end of the day."

"Huh?" Yuffie was confused at the apparent simplicity of the request. "I... I thought it'd be worse, like a load of detentions or something."

Lucrecia shook her head, smiling. "Oh no. If it were anyone else, I'd force that one, but this is you and your friends. I hate seeing my favorite students fighting amongst themselves, and would like it if you five could resolve your problem by the end of the day. If not..." She sighed. "It will come down to detentions for Yuffie in the time frame of a month. Either way, I won't contact Mr. Tuesti about this."

Yuffie looked at her friends and saw them nod to her. "I think we can do that, Lucrecia," she said, a smile creeping to her face. "Thank you so much, and..." She felt her smile slip. "Sorry."

"About what?"

"Disrupting the class earlier. Sephiroth... well, somehow he knew I have... no, had materia on my person. He passed me a note saying so." She pointed to the spot where the paper lay. "Don't take it up with him, please."

Lucrecia smiled. "I won't. I promise." She walked behind her desk and placed Yuffie's materia into her own materia drawer. "I don't own any summon materia, but no one else knows that. This should remind me that yours is in here."

"Thanks again, Lucrecia. I owe you a big favor."

Lucrecia waved a hand to convey 'not to worry'. "Get going, you five. Your next class starts in about five minutes, and I've kept you long enough as it is. I hope you five can be more cheerful tomorrow," she added with a small wink. "That's all. Dismissed."

They bowed their heads to her and filed out one by one.

A hand shot out and caught Yuffie by the shoulder. She looked at the person it belonged to. Sephiroth was smiling.

"You didn't get into trouble. Good." He let go of her shoulder. "Now, you seem the one I should ask. Where's Basics of Materia located?"

Yuffie stared at him. "That's our next class," she said. "Just follow us, um..."

He gave a small smirk. "Sephiroth."

She nodded. "Yuffie Kisaragi. This is Tifa Lockheart, Aerith Gainsborough, Cloud Strife, and Zack Fair." She indicated each friend respectively.

He gave them all a small nod. "Pleasure. Well then, we'll be late at this rate, ne?"

They set off together, their newest 'friend' humming a quiet tune to himself.

* * *

_I realize the tail end of this chapter doesn't make much sense, so I'll explain. At Junon Academy, classes are long. REALLY long. Like, two-classes-a-day long. They get lunch during Lucrecia's class, and if her class starts at 9 in the morning... Yeah, it's long. She lets them out at roughly 2 in the afternoon, and Hojo's class, their next and last class of the day, teaches for roughly 4 hours straight, with breaks dotted here and there._

_In case anyone's confused here, I'm winging that part of it as I go. Sorry._

_Will work on Chapter 3 when I get the chance. -Spiritslayer_


End file.
